Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 120
A Song of [a]Ascents.
1 In my distress I cried to the Lord, and He answered me.
2 Deliver me, O Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.
3 What shall be given to you? Or what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue?—
4 Sharp arrows of a [mighty] warrior, with [glowing] coals of the broom tree!
5 Woe is me that I sojourn with Meshech, that I dwell beside the tents of Kedar [as if among notoriously barbarous people]!(A)
6 My life has too long had its dwelling with him who hates peace.
7 I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.
Psalm 121
A Song of [b]Ascents.
1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills [around Jerusalem, to sacred Mount Zion and Mount Moriah]—From whence shall my help come?(B)
2 My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to slip or to be moved; He Who keeps you will not slumber.(C)
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand [the side not carrying a shield].(D)
6 The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night.(E)
7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.(F)
Psalm 122
A Song of [c]Ascents. Of David.
1 I was glad when they said to me, Let us go to the house of the Lord!(G)
2 Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!—
3 Jerusalem, which is built as a city that is compacted together—
4 To which the tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord, as was decreed and as a testimony for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
5 For there the thrones of judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May they prosper who love you [the Holy City]!
7 May peace be within your walls and prosperity within your palaces!
8 For my brethren and companions’ sake, I will now say, Peace be within you!
9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek, inquire for, and require your good.
Psalm 123
A Song of [d]Ascents.
1 Unto You do I lift up my eyes, O You Who are enthroned in heaven.
2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, and as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until He has mercy and loving-kindness for us.
3 Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on and loving-kindness for us, for we are exceedingly satiated with contempt.
4 Our life is exceedingly filled with the scorning and scoffing of those who are at ease and with the contempt of the proud (irresponsible tyrants who disregard God’s law).
Psalm 124
A Song of [e]Ascents. Of David.
1 If it had not been the Lord Who was on our side—now may Israel say—
2 If it had not been the Lord Who was on our side when men rose up against us,
3 Then they would have quickly swallowed us up alive when their wrath was kindled against us;
4 Then the waters would have overwhelmed us and swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us;
5 Then the proud waters would have gone over us.
6 Blessed be the Lord, Who has not given us as prey to their teeth!
7 We are like a bird escaped from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped!
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 125
A Song of [f]Ascents.
1 Those who trust in, lean on, and confidently hope in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides and stands fast forever.
2 As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from this time forth and forever.
3 For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest upon the land of the [uncompromisingly] righteous, lest the righteous (God’s people) stretch forth their hands to iniquity and apostasy.
4 Do good, O Lord, to those who are good, and to those who are right [with You and all people] in their hearts.
5 As for such as turn aside to their crooked ways [of indifference to God], the Lord will lead them forth with the workers of iniquity. Peace be upon Israel!
Psalm 126
A Song of [g]Ascents.
1 When the Lord brought back the captives [who returned] to Zion, we were like those who dream [it seemed so unreal].(H)
2 Then were our mouths filled with laughter, and our tongues with singing. Then they said among the nations, The Lord has done great things for them.
3 The Lord has done great things for us! We are glad!
4 Turn to freedom our captivity and restore our fortunes, O Lord, as the streams in the South (the Negeb) [are restored by the torrents].
5 They who sow in tears shall reap in joy and singing.
6 He who goes forth bearing seed and weeping [at needing his precious supply of grain for sowing] shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
Psalm 127
A Song of [h]Ascents. Of Solomon.
1 Except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; except the Lord keeps the city, the watchman wakes but in vain.(I)
2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to take rest late, to eat the bread of [anxious] toil—for He gives [blessings] to His beloved in sleep.
3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.(J)
4 As arrows are in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth.
5 Happy, blessed, and fortunate is the man whose quiver is filled with them! They will not be put to shame when they speak with their adversaries [in gatherings] at the [city’s] gate.
4 Thus says the Lord my God: Shepherd the flock [destined] for slaughter,
5 Whose buyers or possessors slay them and hold themselves not guilty; and they who sell them say, Blessed be the Lord, for I have become rich! And their own shepherds neither pity nor spare them [from the wolves].
6 For I will no more pity or spare the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord; but behold, I will deliver every man into his neighbor’s hand and into the hand of his [foreign] king. And [the enemy] shall lay waste the land, and I will not deliver [the people] out of the hand [of the foreign oppressor].
7 So I [Zechariah] shepherded the flock of slaughter, truly [as the name implies] the most miserable of sheep. And I took two [shepherd’s] staffs, the one I called Beauty or Grace and the other I called Bands or Union; and I fed and shepherded the flock.
8 And I cut off the three shepherds [the civil authorities, the priests, and the prophets] in one month, for I was weary and impatient with them, and they also loathed me.(A)
9 So I [Zechariah] said, I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die, and what is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed; and let the survivors devour one another’s flesh.
10 And I took my staff, Beauty or Grace, and broke it in pieces to show that I was annulling the covenant or agreement which I had made with all the peoples [not to molest them].
11 So the covenant was annulled on that day, and thus the most wretched of the flock and the traffickers in the sheep who were watching me knew (recognized and understood) that it was truly the word of the Lord.
12 And I said to them, If it seems just and right to you, give me my wages; but if not, withhold them. So they weighed out for my price thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the Lord said to me, Cast it to the potter [as if He said, To the dogs!]—the munificently [miserable] sum at which I [and My shepherd] am priced by them! And I [Zechariah] took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.(B)
14 Then I broke into pieces my other staff, Bands or Union, indicating that I was annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 And the Lord said to me, Take up once more the implements [the staff and rod of a shepherd, but this time] of a worthless and wicked shepherd.(C)
16 For behold, I will raise up a false shepherd in the land; the lost and perishing he will not miss or visit, the young and scattered he will not go to seek, the wounded and broken he will not heal, nor will he feed those that are sound and strong; but he will eat the flesh of the fat ones and break off their hoofs [to consume all the flesh].
17 Woe to the worthless and foolish shepherd who deserts the flock! The sword shall smite his arm and his right eye; his arm shall be utterly withered and his right eye utterly blinded.(D)
10 According to the grace (the special endowment for my task) of God bestowed on me, like a skillful architect and master builder I laid [the] foundation, and now another [man] is building upon it. But let each [man] be careful how he builds upon it,
11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is [already] laid, which is Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
12 But if anyone builds upon the Foundation, whether it be with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
13 The work of each [one] will become [plainly, openly] known (shown for what it is); for the day [of Christ] will disclose and declare it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test and critically appraise the character and worth of the work each person has done.
14 If the work which any person has built on this Foundation [any product of his efforts whatever] survives [this test], he will get his reward.
15 But if any person’s work is burned up [under the test], he will suffer the loss [of it all, losing his reward], though he himself will be saved, but only as [one who has passed] through fire.(A)
16 Do you not discern and understand that you [the whole church at Corinth] are God’s temple (His sanctuary), and that God’s Spirit has His permanent dwelling in you [to be at home in you, [a]collectively as a church and also individually]?
17 If anyone [b]does hurt to God’s temple or corrupts it [[c]with false doctrines] or destroys it, God will [d]do hurt to him and bring him to the corruption of death and destroy him. For the temple of God is holy (sacred to Him) and that [temple] you [[e]the believing church and its individual believers] are.
18 Let no person deceive himself. If anyone among you supposes that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool [let him discard his worldly discernment and recognize himself as dull, stupid, and foolish, without true learning and scholarship], that he may become [really] wise.(B)
19 For this world’s wisdom is foolishness (absurdity and stupidity) with God, for it is written, He lays hold of the wise in their [own] craftiness;(C)
20 And again, The Lord knows the thoughts and reasonings of the [humanly] wise and recognizes how futile they are.(D)
21 So let no one exult proudly concerning men [boasting of having this or that man as a leader], for all things are yours,
22 Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas (Peter), or the universe or life or death, or the immediate and [f]threatening present or the [subsequent and uncertain] future—all are yours,
23 And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
31 Then taking the Twelve [apostles] aside, He said to them, Listen! We are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written about the Son of Man through and by the prophets will be fulfilled.(A)
32 For He will be handed over to the Gentiles and will be made sport of and scoffed and jeered at and insulted and spit upon.(B)
33 They will flog Him and kill Him; and on the third day He will rise again.(C)
34 But they understood nothing of these things; His words were a mystery and hidden from them, and they did not comprehend what He was telling them.
35 As He came near to Jericho, it occurred that a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.
36 And hearing a crowd going by, he asked what it meant.
37 They told him, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.
38 And he shouted, saying, Jesus, Son of David, take pity and have mercy on me!
39 But those who were in front reproved him, telling him to keep quiet; yet he [a]screamed and shrieked so much the more, Son of David, take pity and have mercy on me!
40 Then Jesus stood still and ordered that he be led to Him; and when he came near, Jesus asked him,
41 What do you want Me to do for you? He said, Lord, let me receive my sight!
42 And Jesus said to him, Receive your sight! Your faith ([b]your trust and confidence that spring from your faith in God) has healed you.
43 And instantly he received his sight and began to follow Jesus, [c]recognizing, praising, and honoring God; and all the people, when they saw it, praised God.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation